With the way that technology has made its way into our everyday lives and business lives, the appeal of starting a home-based business is greater than ever. It has grown rapidly in the last five years, and it doesn’t seem as though it will slow down any time soon.
Before you start your home-based business you need to make sure you know what you need to do to have a chance of being successful.
Let’s have a look at everything you need to consider when you are running a business at home:
Create A Dedicated Workspace
When it comes to running a home-based business you need to realise something before you start. You need to recognize how it could impact a work-life balance, purely because you are based from home and not going out to work. You need to find the right balance between home and work, the best way to do this is to have a dedicated workspace that lets you separate the different parts of your life. When you have the space in your home, such as having an office, sectioned-off space, a good broadband connection, a 12g-sdi over fiber to use, and other items depending on your work type, you are setting yourself up for success before you even get started. Ensure your working space provides all of these and decent storage.
When thinking about your home office you should also consider:
- The type of desk that you need such as a corner desk or a sitting/standing desk.
- If you need a clear surface for other work such as packaging orders or design work.
- Do you need a certain type of chair?
- What is this lighting like? Could you benefit from installing a SAD light?
- What storage do you need?
Don’t worry if you don’t get this part right straight away, you can build on your office space as you grow.
Think About Connectivity
When you work from home you need to make sure you remain connected. You need to be able to engage with people effectively and appear professional. But how to make sure that you can do this?
You could use cloud services. When you have a cloud server connect with your clients and others as and when you need to. You can share the same information, no matter how far away you might be. You can provide services and outsource any requirements you have easily this way.
You should also make sure you have a decent and reliable broadband service. Don’t overspend on this though, when you first start you may be able to still rely on your home’s existing broadband package.
Create A Schedule
One of the best things about running a home business is the flexibility that it can provide. You can make yourself available when you are needed, whether it’s for an appointment or if the kids need you for a play at school and then you can work at any time. However, it can be very easy to let family life disrupt your productivity and for your work to flow into your family life. When you have a schedule in place you can set yourself a time to work each day but if you need to change it you can. Once you are in a pattern, you can swap and change more often. It’s a good idea to make sure your family knows your schedule too, this way they can also help to keep disruptions to a minimum during working hours. If you do this you should have a great work-life balance with the added benefit of being flexible and present for your kids when they need you.
Build A Brilliant Website
When you have a home-based business you aren’t going to have a brick-and-mortar store, this means that you need to have a great website for your customers to visit. Your website is the place where your customers can learn about you, your business, your products, services, and more. Some of the things you should include:
- A landing page with a hero section sharing your business message.
- An About Us section
- A pricing section
- Testimonials
- A Quote section
- Terms and Conditions
- A Blog
- A Contact Us Page
When you have a great website set up, you can get where you want to be with your home-based business. Making sure you have a responsive and user-friendly website with some of the elements above, coupled with good SEO practices you are setting your business up for success.
Realize That You Are Not Alone
So you won’t have people entering your home for business, however, you aren’t alone. As well as talking to and working with other companies, freelancers, and clients, you can start to build a team of people who may also work from home. Remote workers and freelancers can help with a variety of tasks including:
- Administration
- Accounting
- SEO
- Social Media Marketing
- Website Management
- Content Creation
- Customer Service
- And More
You may also think about attending events for small businesses or traveling to meet with other home-based business people. This way you can avoid feeling alone when you are working from home.
Protect You Business And Home
When you are running a home business you are at risk for many different things. You need to think about cyberattacks and various data breaches as these aren’t only dangerous for your business they are also dangerous for your family because you are running from home. You need to be aware of how to protect both you and your business from these threats so it might be worth doing a training course.
While thinking about the safety of your business and home, you should also consider other measures such as security cameras, a safe, and strong passwords. It may also be worth having a separate locked door for your office, especially if you have young children at home and want to ensure they don’t touch anything important.
Think About The Finances
Starting any business will mean that you need to finance it. There will be risks and you may need some savings to get started. You will, however, reduce your financial risks because you are running your business from home. It, of course, needs you to take a leap of faith, but it should be worth it when you succeed.
It is vital that you think about your budget and build a financial forecast this way you will have an idea of your ROI. Make sure you keep your costs as low as possible in the first twelve months as this is often the time when most new businesses fail. If you outsource to an accountant they will be able to help you with this.
Create A Business Plan
Every business needs to have a business plan in place. The chances that you will succeed without one are extremely low. You need to look at things like:
- Your business name
- How you are going to market
- How you are going to brand your business
- What your logo will look like
- How you are going to finance your business
- What 12 months, 5 years, and long will look for your business
Doing Market Research
You need to do as much market research as possible. You should really be conducting market research as your business grows too. With your research, you should identify things like your target audience, the social media platforms you will use, and how you will reach your target audience. You need to consider:
- Whether there is enough demand for the service or product you want to offer.
- What is your competition?
- How does your competition compare to yours?
- Who is your target audience?
- Where are your target audience?
Your market research is one of the most important things that you can do to help your business be successful. If you don’t do your market research you are pretty much aiming your business to every single person out there and it could be extremely difficult to convert your efforts into a profit. Make sure you record everything you research so you are able to convert it into a usable date to refer back to.
Launching Your Business
Once you have tackled the elements above you are ready to launch your business and the hard work really starts! How exciting! Once you have launched you should look to iron out any of the issues in the first few months. It is natural to have a few teething problems so don’t worry too much. Don’t forget to register your business, choose a domain name, and get your website up and running too. Make sure you monitor your business closely in the first few months as these are extremely important for your future.
These tips should help you to launch your home business. Have you thought about starting your own business from home? We’d love to hear how you are getting on in the comments below.
